Profanity, in all its colorful mutations, will finally be on display on TV--all in the hopes of deciding what effing words TV people are allowed to say. On Dec. 20, C-SPAN will be allowed to cover the oral arguments by broadcasters against a March decision the Federal Communications Commission made against the Fox Billboard Awards for comments made by Cher and Nicole Richie.

TV executives might not be the geniuses they think they are. Now a year and a couple of months after Walt Disney made its groundbreaking announcement that it was selling its TV shows on iTunes, all downloadable sales--including those of digital music--apparently could be declining.

CBS has extended "Late Show with David Letterman" through 2010, with the hope that by that time he may have returned as the leader in late-night TV. Will digital video platforms be a factor?

The lottery over big user-generated Web sites now has a simple mathematical formula that will stick in people's minds like Michael Richards' rant: A business that has only existed for a year and a half has come away with a $1.65 billion prize. Scratching their collective heads as to why anyone would pay so much for such a young company, execs at old media titans such as Viacom, CBS Corp. Walt Disney, General Electric, and even News Corp. must be angry as hell.

The dramatic ouster of Julie Roehm this week after a short stint as the senior vice president of marketing communications at Wal-Mart has left virtually everyone in the ad community shaking their heads....

There's another report of non-kosher food on an El Al plane. In a separate incident, more E. coli was found in another two Long Island, New York Taco Bells. With that in mind, I'll pass on the shrimp this weekend--as well as some undernourished TV shows.

It's time for television and video content providers to pull out their respective "get out of the way" strategies. For example, ABC will be getting out of the way of "American Idol" at 9 p.m. on Wednesdays--by putting "Lost" in a more natural and dramatic 10 p.m. time slot.

Increasingly, cable TV news schedules are now being filled without journalists--but with intense prosecutors, ex-PR officials, and career talk-radio hosts. Why? Cable executives want a "different outlook" on events.

The TV program distribution landscape is changing again: After a decade, cable networks can't take on any more off-broadcast network dramas. Looking to blame the new digital world? This time it's not the usual suspects.

Live TV could be in your car by 2007--but the sad news is that you'll still have to keep your eyes on the road. Sirius Satellite Radio plans to offer live television service---but only for the back seat. I don't know why. Distraction is all around us. Talking on cell phones has already upped the accidents. Why not make it a real free-for-all? Better still, why not place a holographic see-through image on the windshield?